Monday, Dec 05, 2016 - 6:34 PM EST
Urban Impact
Our first two Urban Priority Refuges that received an additional $1M in base funding have released impact reports. Both reports highlight accomplishments and measurable results.
Link to the Portland-Vancouver report.
Thursday, Dec 01, 2016 - 5:24 PM EST
WEBINAR: Five Star and Urban Waters Restoration Grant Program 2017 (RFP)
UWRP and UBT Grant Process Webinar: Recorded on Wednesday, November 30, 2016, this webinar provides a general update on the Urban Wildlife Conservation Program, as well as information about the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF)
Five Star and Urban Waters Restoration Grant Program.
Monday, Dec 14, 2015 - 3:52 PM EST
Urban Program Webinar - December 2015
Urban Wildlife Conservation Program Webinar : This webinar recording is from Thursday, December 10th and provides a general update on the Urban Wildlife Conservation Program, as well as more information about the National Fish & Wildlife Foundation Five Star and Urban Waters Restoration Grant Program.
Wednesday, Dec 09, 2015 - 7:53 PM EST
Wildlife refuges link Oregon cities to nature and habitat
American society is more ethnically and socially diverse than any other time in history. We are becoming more urbanized and studies show that people are spending less and less time outdoors.
With 80% of the U.S. population now living in urban areas, the challenge to ensure our natural resources are conserved and valued by the American people has become increasingly complex. Read More…
Tuesday, Nov 03, 2015 - 12:42 PM EST
New Orleans' Bayou Sauvage National Wildlife Refuge
Offering a 24,000-acre living laboratory, Bayou Sauvage is an outdoor recreation and wildlife gem in one of the country’s most vibrant urban centers.
When most people think of New Orleans, their minds wander to steaming bowls of gumbo and jambalaya, late-night jazz haunts, Mardi Gras and the bustling French Quarter. Unfortunately, since Hurricane Katrina, our memories are burned with images of a once-vibrant city struggling to recover from a natural disaster. Whatever your impressions of this Southern city, they probably don’t include vast swaths of public land or wildlife, but that’s exactly what you’ll find in the 24,000-acre Bayou Sauvage National Wildlife Refuge, which rests entirely within the New Orleans city limits. Read More
Tuesday, Nov 03, 2015 - 12:41 PM EST
Ian Shive: Lights, Camera, Condor
Filmmaker Talks New Condor Recovery Program Video, Education Consevation
Conservationist and photojournalist Ian Shive has shot and filmed all over the world with organizations like the Sierra Club, the Nature Conservancy, the National Parks Service, telling the untold stories of wildlife refuges and protected lands. He recently teamed with the US Fish and Wildlife Service for their California Condor Recovery Program, helping teach students from Fillmore’s Mountain Vista Elementary School and Fillmore Middle School on conservation education. I spoke with Shive in a phone interview about the importance of education, the divide between wild and urban areas, and the aesthetics of conservation. Read more
Monday, Oct 12, 2015 - 5:39 PM EDT
New FWS Videos Debut at Telluride Photo Festival
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Urban Wildlife Conservation Program got a big boost last week in Colorado as two new videos about urban outreach in Southern California debuted at the Telluride Photo Festival.
The festival, in its fourth year, attracted more than 150 nature photographers, videographers and magazine editors who specialize in outdoor and adventure storytelling. Read More…
Tuesday, Sep 15, 2015 - 11:05 AM EDT
Springfield Picked For Urban Wildlife Conservation Program
The city of Springfield, Massachusetts has been recognized by the federal government for environmental stewardship. With the designation comes some money for a project to restore an urban conservation area.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Monday designated the Springfield Urban Wildlife Refuge Partnership. It is a cooperative effort to promote conservation values with urban residents, especially young people, according to Deborah Rocque, the northeast deputy regional director for the wildlife service.
Read more:
Springfield Picked For Urban Wildlife Conservation Program
Partnership To Engage Springfield Residents With Conservation Receives Federal Designation
Springfield receives $39,000 grant to preserve wildlife
Federal agency designates Springfield for urban wildlife protection partnership, funding
Monday, Sep 14, 2015 - 6:36 PM EDT
Very neat recognition of the Urban Wildlife Conservation Program!
Thursday, Sep 03, 2015 - 12:57 PM EDT
CondorKid Technology Takes Flight with Launch of Livestream Nestcam
CondorKid Technology Takes Flight with Launch of Livestream Nestcam
Just two weeks into a new school year, Principal John Wilber welcomed a crowd of more than 300 children, parents and community members to Mountain Vista Elementary School in the small foothill town of Fillmore, California. Learn more.
Thursday, Aug 27, 2015 - 12:04 PM EDT
Alaska 2015 Expedition: A Cross-Cultural Exploration
This August, inner-city youth, U.S. veterans and volunteers came together to form a community in the midst of Mother Nature’s rawest environment: Alaska’s rugged wilderness.
Black, brown, or white, religious or non-religious, soldiers of war and soldiers of the streets, from Oregon, Washington, and even Florida, all mashed into an unfamiliar, lush environment abundant with wild animal, aquatic, and plant life. We were experiencing firsthand the wildest of our public lands. As Americans we are blessed with vast public lands that belong to all of us. Sadly, the kids I brought to Alaska don’t have the chance to spend the time they need to heal in the amazing public lands in their own backyards. But it’s important those protected lands are there for them, waiting to help. Read more
Thursday, Aug 13, 2015 - 9:54 AM EDT
Detroit River park hosts new spot for watching birds
Groups involved in creating a new place for watching birds along the Detroit River said Wednesday that they hope it will help reconnect people with the waterway and inspire a new generation of conservationists.
The urban birding spot is at Gabriel Richard Park, which is located along the Detroit RiverWalk and near the MacArthur Bridge to Belle Isle. It features four wildlife spotting scopes and an interpretive panel identifying common birds that can be seen in the area. Read more: http://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/detroit/2015/07/29/bird-watching-detroit-river/30822077/
Thursday, Aug 13, 2015 - 9:53 AM EDT
Sammamish residents win ruling to block subdivision near salmon creek
A hearing examiner has rejected a developer’s plan to build 30 houses and a bridge over Ebright Creek in Sammamish, one of the primary spawning streams for kokanee salmon in the Lake Sammamish basin.
The ruling is a victory for neighbors who argued that the proposed subdivision threatened Ebright Creek and nearby Pine Lake Creek, and the extensive efforts over the past two decades to restore and preserve habitat for the kokanee, a freshwater relative of sockeye salmon whose numbers had fallen to about 50 spawning fish in 2008. Read more: http://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/eastside/sammamish-residents-win-ruling-to-block-subdivision-by-salmon-creek/
Friday, Jul 10, 2015 - 3:09 PM EDT
Girls from the Holyoke-based Eureka! program get tough with invasive species
HADLEY – One 13-year-old girl said if she saw a snake she would run.
Another gladly reached out her hands to hold a toad.
They were among the dozen girls in their first year in the Girls Inc. Eureka! program learning about nature at the Silvio O. Conte National Fish and Wildlife Refuge at Fort River Thursday.
They had been there Tuesday as well and others from the program will be there as well and at the Richard Cronin Fisheries and Aquatic Conservation Center in Sunderland in a partnership with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service over the next few weeks. Learn more…
Monday, Jul 06, 2015 - 2:07 PM EDT
Why the National Wildlife Refuge System Needs Successful Urban Refuges
Welcome to our book discussion. Author and FWS refuge manager John Hartig will moderate this discussion with one essay a week and you the reader can participate in a discussion here by commenting and John and other readers will respond. Note the question(s) to prime the discussion flow. The month long uban conservation conversation is framed around the following topics:
- Week One: Why the National Wildlife Refuge System Needs Successful Urban Refuges
- Week Two: Becoming Part of the Community Fabric
- Week Three: Compelling Urban Citizen Science
- Week Four: Lessons Learned from Detroit River International Wildlife Refuge
We are pretty jazzed about this WildRead month so welcome and keep your eye on tomorrow’s first essay by John!
Monday, Jul 06, 2015 - 2:04 PM EDT
Bringing Nature Back to Man-Made Spaces
The Rocky Mountain Arsenal National Wildlife Refuge previously housed a chemical weapons manufacturing center and a pesticide factory. Today, the 16,000 acres located 10 minutes outside of Denver is one of the nation’s largest urban wildlife refuges. Project leader David Lucas discusses how to bring nature back from contaminated land, and what wilderness means in an age of urban sprawl.
Produced by Alexa Lim, Associate Producer
GUESTS
- David Lucas
Project Leader
Rocky Mountain Arsenal Wildlife Refuge Complex
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
Commerce City, Colorado
http://www.sciencefriday.com/segment/07/03/2015/bringing-nature-back-to-man-made-spaces.html
Wednesday, Jun 17, 2015 - 5:06 PM EDT
East Rock School Unveils An "Urban Oasis" | New Haven Independent
“These new schoolyard habitats are a central part of the New Haven Urban Wildlife Refuge Partnership – creating a matrix of ‘urban oases’ across the city, designated by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service as one of the nation’s first urban refuges in fall 2013,” according to an organizational statement. “These urban oases provide habitat for migrating songbirds and other wildlife, improve human and watershed health, revitalize neighborhoods, increase knowledge about Long Island Sound and engage communities in conservation action.”
Wednesday, Jun 17, 2015 - 5:05 PM EDT
New Haven’s East Rock school students help to build bird habitat
On Monday, officials with Audubon Connecticut and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service visited the school to honor students and teachers for transforming the grounds that encircle the building’s play area into what they hope will become a bird sanctuary.
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Contact us: angelina_yost@fws.gov
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